There’s few places in the world where you can see the surf from your university dorm window. UC Santa Barbara is one of them.

Just an hour and a half north of Los Angeles, the coastal campus is practically located on the beach – just check out the picture above – with most students choosing to live in the Isla Vista overlooking the ocean.

Santa Barbara might not have the most consistent breaks in SoCal, but with the long-peeling right hander Rincon just a 20 minute drive away and further breaks just past Point Conception, you’ll be hard-pressed to not find a wave that suits you.

The university has produced some boffins over the years (5 Nobel Prize winners, to be precise) plus it’s got a reputation for having a wild party scene.

You can even study courses in surfing, including Geography in Surfing and History of Surfing. What more could you want?

NEAREST SPOTS: Campus Point, Devereux and Sands (practically on campus), Rincon and Sandspit (20 minute drive)